- pension General David Petraeus said the situation in Ukraine looked “very bad” for Vladimir Putin.
- The ex-CIA director made the comments during an interview with host John Catsimatidis on WABC radio.
- Petraeus said Putin’s partial mobilization of reservists would not produce “cohesive” troops.
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Retired General David Petraeus said Sunday that the war in Ukraine “looks very bad” for Russian President Vladimir Putin as Ukraine’s military was able to push back invading forces in a way Moscow had not foreseen.
During a WABC radio interview with New York businessman John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable,” Petraeus — who also served as director of the CIA in 2011 and 2012 — said that Putin was in an “irreversibly desperate” predicament, as Ukraine had been able to use his skills strategically in the fight against Russia.
“The bottom line is that Ukraine has fared far better than Russia in mobilizing its capabilities in recruitment, training, equipment, US and NATO support, organization and deployment of additional forces and capabilities,” he said.
He continued: “The upshot of this is that Ukraine is now taking back from Russia territory that Russian forces have captured since the February 24 unprovoked invasion, and Russia is very much on the defensive and losing territory that they captured earlier this year could .”
With the success of Ukraine’s military in the Kharkiv region in September, Russia now controls less territory than it did after its initial foray into Ukraine earlier this year, according to a CNN analysis.
Petraeus was skeptical during the interview that Putin’s efforts to change the course of the conflict would prove successful.
“Putin has launched three initiatives to try to reverse the situation, none of which will be enough. He has announced a partial mobilization, allegedly of 300,000 ex-conscripts. This will not produce well-trained, well-equipped, cohesive troops and units,” he said.
“It will produce cannon fodder. It may slow down the Ukrainian advance, but I don’t think it will reverse this harsh reality he is facing,” he added.
A destroyed Russian armored personnel carrier (APC) is seen September 15, 2022 near the village of Nova Husarivka, Ukraine. Gleb Garanich via Portal
Petraeus said world leaders should not downplay Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine in order to retain Russian territory, including the Russian-controlled regions the Russian leader annexed last week.
Ultimately, Petraeus said Putin’s words should matter to the international community, but expects the Russian leader’s heightened rhetoric to be “empty.”
“The United States National Security Adviser has said publicly that he, our government has communicated to the Russian government that any use of nuclear weapons in response to them would be catastrophic,” Petraeus said.
Putin announced on Friday that Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions had all voted to be annexed by Russia, but world leaders have rejected the referendums, criticizing them as Moscow-controlled sham elections.
President Joe Biden sharply condemned Putin’s actions on Friday and called the referendum on the annexation “wrong”.
“The United States today condemns Russia’s fraudulent attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory. Russia violates international law, tramples on the United Nations Charter and everywhere shows its contempt for peaceful nations,” he said in a statement.
“We will rally the international community to denounce these moves and hold Russia accountable. We will continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment it needs to defend itself, undeterred by Russia’s brazen efforts to redraw its neighbor’s borders,” he added.
In March, Petraeus sounded a siren at Russia’s early stumbling blocks in the war, declaring during a CNN interview that Russian forces were “just surprisingly unprofessional” in their efforts on the ground in Ukraine.